Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee become first nonbinary performers to win acting Tony Awards
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The 2023 Tony Awards made history tonight awarding not one, but two non-binary actors for the first time in history. And during Pride month no less!
Alex Newell was the first to break that barrier on Sunday when they won Best Performance by Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical for their role in Shucked, about the fictional Midwestern rural community of Cobb County amid a corn crisis.
Later in the night, J. Harrison Ghee won Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for their role in Some Like It Hot, an adaptation of the classic film.
Bruce Glikas/Getty Images;Theo Wargo/Getty Images Alex Newell, left, and J. Harrison Ghee
"I have wanted this my entire life, and I thank each and every one of you in this room right now," Newell said. "I should not be up here; as a queer, nonbinary, fat, Black little baby from Massachusetts."
Newell got their start on the reality show The Glee Project, which led to a recurring role on Glee as Wade "Unique" Adams starting in 2012. Funnily (girl) enough, fellow Glee alum and (depending on whom you ask) villain, Lea Michele was in the audience, though she was not nominated for her acclaimed turn in Funny Girl.
Though Newell and Ghee agreed to be nominated in the gendered actor categories, & Juliet performer Justin David Sullivan decided to opt out of consideration.
"I hope that award shows across the industry will expand their reach to be able to honor and award people of all gender identities," Sullivan previously said in a statement.
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